Turks and Caicos Islands

4.4. Human Health
4.4.1. Background
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) defines health as
including ‘physical, social and psychological wellbeing’ (Confalonieri, et al., 2007). An understanding of the
impacts of climate change on human health is important because of its impact on the livelihoods of the
people on a local scale and to the economy on a national level. In endemic countries, the environmental
and social conditions make particular populations vulnerable to further disease outbreaks. Climate change
has the potential to further impact the quality of the environment and the resilience of the ecosystems
thereby increasing the risk of disease epidemics.
Health is an important issue in the tourism industry because tourists are susceptible to acquiring diseases
transmitted by insect vectors. In addition, air travel is responsible for a large number of diseases which are
carried from tourist destinations to Europe (Gössling, 2005) and elsewhere in the world. This is highly
relevant when one considers that approximately 75% of travellers become ill while abroad, most often
from infectious diseases; morbidity is most often due to diarrhoea or respiratory infections (Sanford, 2004).
It is also important because it can have consequences for tourist destination demand which is a significant
contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The potential effects of climate change on public health can be direct or indirect (Confalonieri, et al., 2007;
Ebi, et al., 2006; Patz, et al., 2000). Direct effects include those associated with extreme weather events
such as heat stress, changes in precipitation, sea-level rise and natural disasters or more frequent extreme
weather events. While indirect effects are associated with changes in the environment and ecosystem as
well as the impacts to various sectors such as water, agriculture and the economy on a whole (Confalonieri,
et al., 2007). Both direct and indirect effects include the impact of climate change on the natural
environment and can affect food security and agriculture sector, and increase the susceptibility of
populations to respiratory diseases and food- and water-borne related diseases (Confalonieri, et al., 2007;
Githeko and Woodward, 2003; Patz, et al., 2000; Taylor et al., 2009).
The Turks and Caicos Islands has been classified as a “middle-upper income group country” (WHO-AIMS,
2009). The quality of health care in the Turks and Caicos reflects that of a country with a fairly high
standard of living and health care services as demonstrated in very low crude birth rates. See Table 4.4.1
for statistics relevant to the health sector. Epidemiological statistics also indicate that the overall incidence
of communicable diseases such as dengue and malaria is also very low on the island. There have been
recent developments in the climate change sector with the preparation of the Turks and Caicos Islands
Climate Change Green Paper that noted the potential impact of disease outbreaks on the tourism sector,
that is, a decline in the number of visitors (Climate Change Committee, 2011b). The draft Climate Change
Policy of the Turks and Caicos Islands was completed in September 2011. It focused on environmental
education and awareness, the need for increased vector surveillance, increased preventative health care
facilities and the strengthening of the health care system in areas related to pandemics and epidemics
(Climate Change Committee, 2011a).
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